Rosie is a vibrant 4-year old girl living with her single, severely-disabled mom in a subsidized housing unit in rural South Dakota. In May 2013, Rosie's mother, Mary, converted a small unused area outside their apartment into a vegetable garden.

Thursday August 22, 2013, 4:58 pm
Rosie is a vibrant 4-year old girl living with her single, severely-disabled mom in a subsidized housing unit in rural South Dakota. In May 2013, Rosie's mother, Mary, converted a small unused area outside their apartment into a vegetable garden. Although the garden is compact, it produces a variety of healthy greens which Rosie and Mary could otherwise not easily afford on their fixed income ($628/month in disability payments) while also providing a safe play area for Rosie just outside her own backdoor. Now their property management company has ordered that the garden be removed this week saying that it goes against the rules set by USDA's Rural Development Agency which doesn't allow residents to have structures of any sort in landscaped areas.

Please join us in sending the message that everyone deserves to have access to gardens and healthy food, especially the most vulnerable people in society.

(Please note: To protect their identities, we are not disclosing Rosie and Mary's real names or exact location in South Dakota. Their story, however, is very real and anyone wishing to know more about why Kitchen Gardeners International is helping them can contact KGI's director, Roger Doiron, roger@kgi.org)

I urge you to make a loud and clear statement to all the property management companies your agency contracts that USDA-subsidized residents have the right to keep their own vegetable gardens provided that these gardens are actively maintained. Vegetable gardens grow healthy and affordable foods as well as a sense of community. Rather than preventing low-income and disabled residents from providing for themselves, we should be doing everything we can to encourage them. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Thursday August 22, 2013, 7:04 pm
Crazy! Because the garden interferes with useless landscaping! Time for that archaic attitude to change. The entire community should turn the all the landscaping into a vegetable garden!

Thursday August 22, 2013, 10:31 pm
Thanks for posting Kathy. Petition signed. I find it very upsetting that they would rip out this little girl's garden. In the best interests of the planet and their health, everyone should be encouraged to grow their own food. Long overdue for policies prohibiting same to be changed.

Friday August 23, 2013, 3:42 am
Just shows how backward thinking some social service providers are. They'll let people in some complexes live with peeling paint and leaking roofs but they won't let them have a garden.

The garden does not look like a structure at all. Please allow this handicapped woman and her child to have a veggie garden. The garden adds beauty and is practical. The garden is also teaching the child on the wonders of nature's abundance.

Sunday August 25, 2013, 4:30 am
I do use Facebook for petitions and was happy to sign and share the petition on Facebook, on Pinterest, on Goodle+ and on Twitter. I also emailed the USDA director and reminded her of the First Lady's childhood obesity campaign along with vegetable gardens. It's horrible that they would do this to this poor woman.